A reader writes:
I am a receptionist at a radiology clinic. Our sonographers (the techs who do ultrasound) get a bonus each time they do three ultrasounds in an hour. One of our sonographers, Meg, prefers to spend extra time with sufferers so solely does two an hour, and appears to be supported on this. I see my grandboss, Victor, typically tampering together with her appointment occasions however he’s by no means given me problem when I’ve modified them again, and he’s talked about being reluctant to overwork her earlier than. Because of this, this sonographer is more than pleased to do pressing scans when they arrive, and even does walk-ins now and again. She is aware of her limits, moderates her workload, and he or she takes on additional work when required due to that.
The senior sonographer, Piper, is a completely different story. She needs the bonus, so I’m instructed to pack her schedule in.
This shouldn’t be a drawback till pressing instances are available and throw the entire schedule out of whack. Piper flat out refuses to do them except they’re referred by particular medical doctors, claiming we’ve no obligation to do them in any other case; Victor disagrees and tells me to schedule them in and inform her “call Victor” if she has a drawback with it.
The drawback is, Piper is aware of he received’t budge, so she doesn’t trouble; she simply leans on me as a substitute. She doesn’t settle for “call Victor” as a solution. Other coworkers have even stepped up and informed her to put off me, that it was his name, however she’ll proceed staying mad at me for it and calls for to know when she’s anticipated to take breaks, how she’s supposed to maintain up, and so on., from me and won’t deliver it up with him. I’m sure that she’s selecting me as a goal on goal.
Victor simply retains saying, “Tell her to call me.” He has stated she gets paid a shit-ton of cash and if she needs a lighter workload they’ll need to readjust compensation accordingly.
If Piper is burning out, I don’t need to contribute to that, however I can’t go towards Victor both. At the identical time, pressing sufferers being turned away is horrifying, and placing them by and delaying much less pressing sufferers is a part of the job. And Victor wants to offer me higher instruments to take care of her aside from telling her to name him, as a result of she received’t do this, she’ll simply hold coming down on me as a substitute. (I seem like somebody who’s recent out of faculty and am studying to face up for myself; I’m fairly certain she’s making the most of that.)
Until I determine a method round this, I’ve been reserving slots particularly for pressing instances to maintain Piper off my again, however I’m anticipating Victor to do away with them when he sees them.
Not certain if it’s related, however I additionally need to word that whereas I haven’t labored with each of them lengthy (two months). Victor appears to be a little bit of a folks pleaser, so it stands out to me that he’s dying on this hill as a result of he’s usually the sort of one that’s very reluctant to say no.
Do you could have any solutions/scripts for the way to deal with this?
Three issues:
1. When Piper complains however refuses to name Victor, name him your self. Say to Piper, “Victor was really clear that he wants to be looped in when this happens, so I’m going to call him and can put you on with him.” Then do it.
2. Talk to Victor once more. Say this: “You’ve told me to tell Piper to call you when she’s complaining about having to take urgent appointments, but every time she refuses and just keeps leaning on me, insisting that I change the schedule and then is hostile toward me afterward. Since just telling her to call you isn’t working, can you talk to her about you want her to handle urgent appointments? Otherwise she’s going to keep pushing back on me every time it happens.” If he once more tells you to have her name him, say, “I do and she refuses, so what’s our next step?”
3. Decide you don’t care if Piper is upset. If she appears mad, say, “I can’t ignore instructions Victor gave me. You should raise this with him if you want me to handle it differently.” If she’s nonetheless snippy, ignore it (however hold looping Victor in — as in, “Piper got angry again today when X happened but refused to call so I’m looping you in”).
I know you stated that if Piper is burning out, you don’t need to be contributing to that — however you’re proper that you could’t unilaterally ignore instructions out of your boss’s boss. If Piper has issues about her workload, she wants to deal with it with administration above her (and, if that doesn’t work, resolve if she needs the job below these circumstances or not). It’s not okay for her to be hostile to you for doing all of your job in lieu of the extra sensible actions she needs to be taking. And if she is attempting to govern you since you look younger and/or she will inform you could have hassle standing up for your self, that makes it even worse. Piper shouldn’t be with out choices; being a jerk to somebody with out a lot of energy shouldn’t be on the desk.
